Maria Trujillo makes a floral arrangement at The Petalar on Friday for the memorial for Joanne Marlee Rinebarger, 33, and her husband Tracy Aaron Rinebarger on Saturday in Monte Vista, CO. The couple was murdered in their home outside of Monte Vista and authorities are allegedly holding Joanne's 14-year-old son John Caudle as a suspect in an undisclosed location. Judy DeHaas, The Denver Post

Tracy Aaron Rinebarger and his wife Joanne Marlee (Galla) Rinebarger are shown in a Facebook photo.

Rio Grande Sheriff Brian Norton said 38-year-old Tracy Aaron Rinebarger and his wife, 33-year-old Joanne Marlee Rinebarger, were found dead inside their home in the 3200 block of County Road 28 near Monte Vista. Authorities say an adult family member found the bodies at 2 p.m. on Tuesday and called 911. Sylvia Lobato, managing editor, Monte Vista Journal/Valley publishing

Fourteen-year-old John Caudle is suspected in the double homicide of his mother, 33-year-old Joanne Marlee Rinebarger and step-father, Tracy Aaron Rinebarger. This photo shows John Caudle in his school yearbook photo. Photo provided by Ruth Heide, Valley Courier

MONTE VISTA — Several hundred San Luis Valley residents gathered in a high school gym Saturday to mourn the loss of born-and-raised local son Tracy Rinebarger and his wife, Joanne, found dead in their remote home Oct. 27.

Absent from the tearful service was Joanne’s son, 14-year-old John M. Caudle. The gangly freshman at Monte Vista High School was in jail, held on suspicion of killing his mother and stepfather. Schoolmates describe the teen as smart — even nerdy — and fond of cracking jokes. He had the odd habit of sucking his thumb.

“He was a good kid. I can’t see this happening. I can’t understand it. He was a good kid,” said Joanne’s mother, Verla Miller.

As Rio Grande County sheriff’s deputies investigated a grisly scene in the family’s home outside Monte Vista on the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 27, Miller got a call from another county. Park County sheriff’s deputies had picked up her grandson in Fairplay on charges of reckless driving. He was in his stepdad’s Chevrolet pickup. Could she come get him, a deputy asked her.

As she drove to fetch her grandson, Park and Rio Grande county law enforcement conferred. By the time Miller reached her grandson in Fairplay, he was a murder suspect and she sat through his initial questioning by deputies.

“I thought he could talk to me about anything,” said Miller, a pastor at Salida’s First Christian Church. “But I guess I wasn’t that close.”

Two lives stolen

Tracy Aaron Rinebarger, 38, and Joanne Marlee Galla, 34, were married in December 2005 after a romance that first sparked online. It was his first marriage and her second. He was born and raised in the San Luis Valley, graduating from Monte Vista High School in 1991. Several of his track records from high school still stand. He was a football star and a scholar, and worked as a potato inspector for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He loved the Pittsburgh Steelers, as evidenced by the James Harrison jersey that hung at his memorial. He hunted, fished and was an avid bowler, bowling in a league every Sunday night at the Monte Vista alley.

Rinebarger was described as a big-hearted man who would “do anything for anybody,” said the Rev. Dawn Simpson, who lived across the street from the Rinebargers.

Joanne was born a twin in Aurora in 1976. She grew up in Denver and Evergreen. In the late 1990s, she lived in northern Arkansas, where her 13-year-old daughter, Shayla Galla, still lives.

In a letter read at the memorial service, Joanne’s twin sister, Jolene Galla, wrote that her sister was “a warrior” who “battled through life.”

The letter noted broken relationships and struggles with drug abuse and a hard life that forged a “bright, beautiful, independent and determined person.”

The gymnasium where Tracy once played basketball echoed with sniffles and sobs. Five placards displayed a timeline of lives stolen. A freckled Tracy as a young boy. A grinning Joanne with her sister and older brother. Giddy wedding photos.

The Rinebargers declined requests for comment.

After marrying, the Rinebargers and Caudle lived in their modest rural home next door to Tracy’s parents on the Rinebarger ranch, which abuts the Rio Grande National Forest south of Monte Vista. Neighbors said they were quiet and rarely reached out.

“She was very sweet. A heart of gold,” said neighbor Gayle Murphy, who with her husband and sons bought 40 acres from Tracy’s dad, Ron Rinebarger, several years ago. “I never met Tracy. They kept to themselves for the most part.”

Judge closes hearings

According to locals, it was Ron Rinebarger who discovered the bodies of his son and daughter-in-law around 2 p.m. Oct. 27, after Tracy’s USDA co-workers reported his rare tardiness at work. Memorial service pamphlets noted the couple’s death as Monday, Oct. 26. Students said Caudle was in school for at least part of the day on Tuesday, the day after his parents were killed.

The day after Caudle’s arrest Oct. 27, his public defender, Daniel Walzl, asked the court to close his client’s proceedings. The request was supported by Deputy District Attorney Geoffrey Rieman, who argued in his motion for a closed courtroom that potentially sensitive information discussed during the teen’s early hearings “may potentially cause alarm or outrage within the community.”

District Judge Martin Gonzales agreed to close hearings and issued a gag order on attorneys, court personnel and police from four counties and three towns, restricting their ability to discuss any aspect of the case.

The gag order also applies to Rio Grande County Coroner Rusty Stroh mayer, who declined to discuss the couple’s cause of death.

Caudle’s attorney requested a 30-day extension before prosecutors file formal charges, and Gonzales agreed. Caudle, who has not been officially identified by authorities because of his juvenile status, will remain in detention until his next hearing Dec. 1.

Suspect smart and shy

Caudle’s fellow students describe him as smart and occasionally goofy. He was shy and quiet when alone. But when he was with his small group of friends, he could be boisterous and rowdy.

He was fond of cracking jokes, and many remember him triggering hearty laughter on the bus ride to school some mornings.

Tall and lanky, with a buzz cut and eyeglasses framing a baby face, Caudle hardly casts a killer’s shadow.

“He didn’t look like he could do something like that,” said Massiel Ochoa, 16.

Caudle was a voracious reader, often carrying dense books with him everywhere. Several students said he would suck his thumb while reading, especially on the bus to school every morning.

“He would read and read and read,” said Chris Marquez, 14, who remembers how Caudle always scored the highest in the class on accelerated reading quizzes that followed each assigned book. “He was really smart.”

Joanne’s uncle, Daniel Miller of Pueblo, said he remembers Caudle as “easygoing and gentle.”

School officials declined to say anything beyond confirming Caudle’s freshman status at Monte Vista High School. In a statement released the day after Caudle’s arrest, school leaders said counselors were assisting students and teachers. A week later, those counselors returned when a popular teacher committed suicide.

Students say Caudle, with a few exceptions, was rarely in trouble at school. However, several sources who knew the family but asked not to be identified said there was some discord at home, with Caudle often arguing with his mother.

Local authorities, citing the court’s gag order, declined to say whether they had ever been called to the home for domestic issues.

Despite the dearth of official and confirmable news about what likely ranks as Monte Vista’s most gruesome crime, there is no question the double-murder has shocked the town of about 4,000.

The Rev. Simpson, in her memorial address, called it a “tragedy for the community.”

“There is nothing that can give us a reason why this happened,” she said. “And we may never have an answer.”

Jason Blevins covers tourism, mountain business, skiing and outdoor adventure sports for both the business and sports sections at The Denver Post, which he joined in 1997. He skis, pedals, paddles and occasionally boogies in the hills and is just as inspired by the lively entrepreneurial spirit that permeates Colorado's high country communities as he is by the views.